Many posts also want to reflect on the past year and see what has changed or stayed the same. I for one don’t like to look back but to look forward to see how and what can be improved on in my life.

However, I thought I would look back at the last decade since we are moving on to a new decade and see what has changed.

I first must say that the last decade as a whole has not been that great. Yes I have my health and my children are doing well but overall it has been a very trying decade to say the least.

To me it is almost like the time has flown by, but yet it is almost like I have been standing still. I am not saying that I haven’t done anything in the last ten years but in the grand scheme of things not much has really been accomplished. I have grown older and hopefully a bit more wiser. But somehow I feel like I have not lived up to my full potential. I have created several online ventures that have been somewhat successful but nothing that would lead me to quit my day job. Perhaps that is the problem, my day job… I feel like I have stagnated because I have fallen into a routine that just pays the bills. I get up, go to work, come home and start all over again. Sure I do things but not things I really love to do, then again I am not sure what I love to do… I have read a lot about finding your passion in life but to me it is too hard to narrow it down. I love to do too many things.

When I look back at the last ten years I see my children growing up, my family going through many different turmoils (which is normal no?) and life just generally going by. I am in no way saying that I am unhappy in life, but I would like to change many things. So this is the year to set out to do it, 2010 a fresh new year and decade to begin my quest.

For the new year I have decided to make some big changes. No resolutions but more like life changes and goals. Time to grow up?! You would think I was already grown up at 43 but somehow I feel like I never really grew up.

I am going to start the new year off by living more simply, I am trying to do everything possible to lead a more simplistic lifestyle. Does this mean throw everything out? Not exactly, but it does mean to reduce the unnecessary in my life and focus on what I need to be focusing on.

It seems like I spend so much time trying to make money to pay bills that I lose track of why I am doing it all in the first place. I don’t spend nearly enough time enjoying my children, before I know it they will be grown and gone! My focus here will be to spend more time playing games, going places and just doing things with my children before they are too big and don’t want to do things with me :)

Another focus will be on personal development, this entails my physical being (getting in shape), my intellectual being (reading more/learning more) and my artistic abilities (learning to play music, drawing, whatever). I need to learn to take time for myself and do things to enrich my personal being so that I can be happy with myself which will allow me to be happier with others. I plan to devote time for fitness, doing things I like to do along with finding some new things that I like to do.

Personal relationships with family and friends, I am not even sure where to start… I will leave this one for a separate post when I can sort things out more. This is not to say that I don’t have many friendships that I consider to be close and trusting it is more of a family issue than friends. Although I have let many friendships just slip away because of the mundane tasks that life throws at me. I plan to work on making new friends or reviving old friendships and plan to do more things that involves my friends.

Finances… This is a biggie, it will take more than a year to really focus on what needs to be done here, but I have many goals when it comes to finances. I need to pay down some debt, fix some financial issues and move on to buying my own home. For those of you who know me, you know that I have been living in the same house that I grew up in. My parents house which is fine but it is not mine, it doesn’t feel like I really belong here, I am not sure if it ever felt like home (except for when I was a kid growing up here). It is time to cut the apron strings so to speak and move on to my own habitat. When? I don’t know, but it is in my five year plan that I am working on.

At my day job there is not much that can be changed because it is a job plain and simple. There is no room for advancement but yet it is too comfortable to just up and leave. I have spent 22 years of my life there and really can’t throw it all away on a whim. Perhaps one day in the future if my business becomes successful enough I will be afforded the ability to just leave, but until then I am stuck in that daily routine.

In my personal business life I have plenty to change. I plan to narrow down my focus, instead of being everything to everyone I plan to have a narrow focus and offer only a certain amount of services. I no longer will feel obligated to take on anything that I don’t want to, from now on I am only going to take on tasks that I really and truly want to do. My plan is to concentrate on web development for the small business and non-profit sector along with all the other things that go with web development (blogs, social media, hosting, support, application development). I still plan to support my existing businesses but I am going to combine them into the main business (Black Cat Technologies) to make it easier to keep track of everything. I am going to eliminate unnecessary websites, redundant email addresses, redundant chat/instant message accounts along with web profiles. Of course Facebook is staying along with my LinkedIn account and Twitter, but most others will slowly be terminated.

Why the sudden need for all these changes? Well of course since the new year is approaching it gives everyone a sense of starting fresh, I too am not immune to that feeling and so now is a better time than ever to really take stock and look forward. Life is short so you have to make the most of it while you are here, not to mention that everyone should have the drive to advance and not stagnate in life.

Here is wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year! Let me know what changes you plan to make for the new year in the comments below.

~Phil

( If you are reading this anywhere but my blog, you can find the original post here. )